General 10K miles in my 59reg trade car Panda 1.1

[Nickhmh]

Now covered 10K in my budget trade purchased Panda 1.1 eco since March.
Some thoughts
Car has now done 110K miles.
After a while the idle control valve started playing up..got a brand new magnetti marreli throttle body off eBay for £70..sorted.
Then I started getting the misfire over bumps..cleaned up all the earth points and fitted "new" coil packs off my old 1.2 punto. Coils had only done about 3K.
Car running better than ever
I've done over 1K and never missed a beat. I'm now using shell V power and getting as many mpg with it as I was with standard. Car is so much more responsive and genuinely feels awesome! It took a couple of tank fulls to feel the difference but it definitely feels happier on 98 fuel.
Love this car
I decided to try the 98 octane after working on my friends mondeo st220 v6 for the last twelve months and seeing the power and mpg figures improve.

 

[DaveMcT]

I use posh petrol in the Pandas and the bike as they all have knock sensors so the ECU will adjust spark timing to suit the fuel. Lower spec fuels will cause the sparks to arrive late so more energy is lost down the exhaust pipe. They all feel flat (especially the bike) when using low spec fuels.

Some people say it's pointless on a basic car, but IMO, when you don't have much, anything extra is welcome. In miles per £ terms, it's neutral - the few additional pence per litre are compensated by a few more mpg.

That all said, Shell V-Power is nice but it (very) not cheap. I usually use Tesco Momentum 99 which has much less of a cost premium.

Older cars and bikes that dont have knock sensors will show no performance benefit on posh fuels. It's worth using Shell V-Power now and then to keep the system clean but you wont get any mpg or power benefits.

 

[Nickhmh]

I use posh petrol in the Pandas and the bike as they all have knock sensors so the ECU will adjust spark timing to suit the fuel. Lower spec fuels will cause the sparks to arrive late so more energy is lost down the exhaust pipe. They all feel flat (especially the bike) when using low spec fuels.

Some people say it's pointless on a basic car, but IMO, when you don't have much, anything extra is welcome. In miles per £ terms, it's neutral - the few additional pence per litre are compensated by a few more mpg.

That all said, Shell V-Power is nice but it (very) not cheap. I usually use Tesco Momentum 99 which has much less of a cost premium.

Older cars and bikes that dont have knock sensors will show no performance benefit on posh fuels. It's worth using Shell V-Power now and then to keep the system clean but you wont get any mpg or power benefits.

I used 98 in my old cinqucento (no knock sensor) because it about 170K and started pinking/knocking and no adjustable timing. The engine was just worn out TBH it was the body that finally killed her. I'd done lots of patch welding and in the end it wasn't safe anymore so she was 'put to sleep'
I had rebuilt the head etc it was spotless with no carbon etc to cause pre ignition.

 

[koalar]

I don't see any difference in fuel economy.

average is lowest is 61mpg highest 68mpg purely on direction of wind. Thats over a couple of years. Most of the time its 64-65. With premium fuel it was 64 for a tank.

 

[DaveMcT]

I used 98 in my old cinqucento (no knock sensor) because it about 170K and started pinking/knocking and no adjustable timing. I had rebuilt the head etc it was spotless with no carbon etc to cause pre ignition.

High compression engines will need a higher octane fuel. Did you have the head gasket face skimmed?

My previous bike (Yamaha 900) was factory set to use 95 RON, but could easily be modified to advance the timing to benefit from 98 RON or better. I didn't do the mod because there's no certainty that posh petrol will always be available and it wasn't a quick fix to set it back to standard.